Should we keep our van or get another

[walkingsoul]

Hi myself and the Mrs are planning to indefinately slowly travel the warmer parts of Europe.
We dont live lavishly and can budget well.
However we dont want to make assumptions so are looking for advice and information on how to live
happily in a van in Europe.

We currently have a quirky motorhome which is a 1999 fiat based auto roller.
Internally its perfect for us and we have spent long periods in it.
The gear box has been replaced as the last one died but a local mechanic put in a different ratio exchange gearbox.
This means its great around town and up hills but on the motorway once over 55 its not too happy.
Where as before it cruised quietly on the motorway but died on hills with lack of power.

So our dilema is what to do barring in mind our planned adventure.

Do we keep the existing van and try to fix it or get another van?

The van only has 40k on the clock.

My thinking is, is it possible to keep the existin ratio gearbox but change the ratio of 5th so revs are lower on the mortorway?
Perhaps we can get the van chipped to deal with low power on hills if we change the gear box again?

Another thought is being a 1999 van will we be able to get engine parts and gearbox parts in 5 even ten years time if we are still living in the van?

thanks for your time.

 

[Firefox]

Be careful about chipping engines. There is supposed to be new MOT legislation restricting that.

Also why did gear box "die" after less than 40k on the clock. I wouldn't be confident in a van where some major part expired at that mileage.

It depends on your budget though. If you are going to full time round Europe, I'd get the best van you can, but if your budget is limited you may end up with something no better than what you have.

On the other hand if you are going on a long holiday then why do you need to get anywhere fast. 50-55 is not a bad speed, It may take you a bit longer but what does it matter anyway.

 

[walkingsoul]

Hi Firefox and thanks for the reply.
The syncro mesh was worn so 4th was crunching then second started playing up.
We had the box fixed under warranty but the daft sods only fixed the worn gear and left other worn gears.
So we then had the boxed replaced by someone different.

The mechanic has said the engine is sweet and apart from top end the current gearbox is great.

What other reason could a gearbox go with low miles?
It actually only had 24k on the clock when the gearbox went.
Apparently there was water in the box a know fault on that model fiat where the window gutter dumped straight on top of the gearbox casing jont.

Do you know of any other reasons such a fault would occur?

The thing is this van is what we have anything else will cost a great deal more to get something a lot newer.

thanks.

 

[tommytransit]

Be careful about chipping engines. There is supposed to be new MOT legislation restricting that.

Also why did gear box "die" after less than 40k on the clock. I wouldn't be confident in a van where some major part expired at that mileage.

It depends on your budget though. If you are going to full time round Europe, I'd get the best van you can, but if your budget is limited you may end up with something no better than what you have.

On the other hand if you are going on a long holiday then why do you need to get anywhere fast. 50-55 is not a bad speed, It may take you a bit longer but what does it matter anyway.

hi, not true about the MOT and chipped engines, we have no way of telling its chipped and even if you told us it was it would not matter

tommy

 

[maingate]

Your gearbox should be fine as long as the water ingress has been solved. The problem with the higher ratio 5th gear is that they can fail early if you do a lot of motorway driving. It is basically a 4 speed box with a 5th gear tagged on and it does not get enough lubrication on motorway runs. It is recommended to periodically change to 4th gear and give it some welly to circulate the oil around 5th gear.

If you revert back to the higher ratio, you can add something like a Tunit box to increase power. I doubt very much that a remap of the ECU is possible on that generation of vehicle. There may even be some mechanical tweaking to the injector pump or Turbo to increase power.

I have a high 5th gear ratio on my van but I never go much above 60 mph as the MPG falls off a cliff at 70 mph.

Hope that helps.

 

[witzend]

Hi we spent 4 mths touring France last year and 50 mph suited us well never found the need for speed. I'd suggest try the van you got and see how its goes

 

[Tbear]

Hi Walkingsoul,

We have not spent much time in Europe in the motorhome but the time we have had was at 55 or less mph. If you are going to spend a long time there then surely your need for speed will be less than ours.

My advise would be to save your money to spend on good food, wine and suntan oil.

Enjoy your trip.

Richard

 

[snowbirds]

Fiat Gearbox

Hi This van had the problem with the water getting in there are a lot of wright ups on it,but you seem to have had the work done.
We retired last year and set off for three months and you will find after the first week you will slow your pace down because you don,t need to keep to a dead line you can take your time as there is no panic to get anyware by a set time.We traveled down through Belgium Germany and Austria in to Italy, and the first tolls we payed was 8 euros in austria.This was a great route compared with the previous year with the tolls in France, and the need to return within two weeks.I would save your money you
could always have it replaced if it plays up in Italy I run a five speed escape and keep to three thousand Rev's to save fuel and use secondary roads, We had a great trip and we are ready for the next. You could also get RAC full recovery well worth the money.

Have a great trip Snowbirds.:have fun:

Hi myself and the Mrs are planning to indefinately slowly travel the warmer parts of Europe.
We dont live lavishly and can budget well.
However we dont want to make assumptions so are looking for advice and information on how to live
happily in a van in Europe.

We currently have a quirky motorhome which is a 1999 fiat based auto roller.
Internally its perfect for us and we have spent long periods in it.
The gear box has been replaced as the last one died but a local mechanic put in a different ratio exchange gearbox.
This means its great around town and up hills but on the motorway once over 55 its not too happy.
Where as before it cruised quietly on the motorway but died on hills with lack of power.

So our dilema is what to do barring in mind our planned adventure.

Do we keep the existing van and try to fix it or get another van?

The van only has 40k on the clock.

My thinking is, is it possible to keep the existin ratio gearbox but change the ratio of 5th so revs are lower on the mortorway?
Perhaps we can get the van chipped to deal with low power on hills if we change the gear box again?

Another thought is being a 1999 van will we be able to get engine parts and gearbox parts in 5 even ten years time if we are still living in the van?

thanks for your time.

 

[walkingsoul]

Many thanks for the excellent replies everyone.
I think I may have explained myself badly though about top speeds.
Its not a case of going fast its a case of the engine not having to work as hard in 5th gear on a long long motorway run.
That way the engine dont get as hot either.
So is it possible to have a different ratio 5th gear fitted ?
If I could have a different ratio 5th gear fitted then I would'nt need to tweak the engine in any way at all.

Thanks for the best wishes for the trip but its a while off just yet.

Thanks again.

 

[maingate]

The ideal ratio would allow you to drive at no less than 2,000 RPM at a comfortable speed.

It is a trade off between Torque and RPM. If your revs are below 2,000 then your mpg will suffer and there will be a bigger strain on your engine (and gearbox).

On the other hand, if you have to drive at around 3,000 rpm to have a decent speed, then you will be more wasteful with fuel but the strain on the drive train will be a lot less.

Higher revs does not mean that your engine will necessarily run hotter.

As a test, drive in 5th gear and slow down a bit. Accelerate again to see if the engine picks up smoothly. Keep trying this until you get down to a speed where your engine labours hard to pick up speed. This is the speed (and RPM) that you should never get down to, you should change down a gear before you reach this point.

A rule of thumb on most diesel engines is to operate between 2K and 3K RPM. Change up at 3K and most engines will be at 2K in the higher gear. The opposite applies when slowing down but as you have your foot off the throttle, you can go below the 2K (especially in the lower gears) and let the engine do the braking for you.

 

[walkingsoul]

Many thanks for that information Maingate although I dont have a rev counter but I know when to gear properly if that makes sense.
I need things smoother on long runs otherwise im going to need ear plugs.
Can you tell me is it possible to just have the fith gear ratio changed?

Thanks.

 

[maingate]

Many thanks for that information Maingate although I dont have a rev counter but I know when to gear properly if that makes sense.
I need things smoother on long runs otherwise im going to need ear plugs.
Can you tell me is it possible to just have the fith gear ratio changed?

Thanks.

Without having any details of the gearbox, I would just be guessing. As ***** says, it is easy to change in situ but I doubt if you could vary the ratio as you would need to change at least 2 gears. It would be best to ask the experts. I would register on the Fiat forum, (www.fiatforum.com, or .co.uk, it is free) and ask the question on there. You would need to give some technical details about the box (ie, exactly which box it is, part number etc, or what vehicle it came off). I am guessing that your engine is the 1.9 TD, or maybe just 1.9 D. You could also ask about boosting it up a bit.

 

[Firefox]

hi, not true about the MOT and chipped engines, we have no way of telling its chipped and even if you told us it was it would not matter

tommy

It does matter according to the 2012 regs. The consensus seems to be, reading around the forums populated by tuning enthusiasts with a sprinkling of actual MOT testers, that remaps of the original ECU chip are almost impossible to detect and that this is not practical to test. Whereas bolt on tuning boxes are obvious and will likely have to be disconnected for the MOT test itself. Also poor tuning could fail emissions regs. It's even more important this year to be check on how your tuning is done and who it is done by.

 

[tommytransit]

It does matter according to the 2012 regs. The consensus seems to be, reading around the forums populated by tuning enthusiasts with a sprinkling of actual MOT testers, that remaps of the original ECU chip are almost impossible to detect and that this is not practical to test. Whereas bolt on tuning boxes are obvious and will likely have to be disconnected for the MOT test itself. Also poor tuning could fail emissions regs. It's even more important this year to be check on how your tuning is done and who it is done by.

hi Firefox, sorry but you are wrong regards remaps and MOT, the ecu is not tested at your mot station and if you have a bolt on that doesn't matter either, what is tested is the emissions from the exhaust with an approved 4 gas tester, you may be confused with warranty from a dealer, they will look for the thing you said if you have a claim, also todays vehicles do not let you "tune" your motor as it is the ecu that sorts this out, only a remap will change things for you, as i said this remap will not be picked up on your mot!!!!

 

[fofeg101]

When we were looking for our van we viewed a lot of vans based on Fiats, they all had gearbox issues, sloppy gear shift, not engaging gear properly, etc., probably the reason they were up for sale. That's why I decided to find a good Transit based van, sadly now up for sale.